“I did really enjoy the episode where Amy was sick. Her lassoing Sheldon into taking care of her goes to my point of Sheldon doing almost anything that is justified in the name of science or reason. In that case, she was sick enough that she needed to be bathed; she needed to have something rubbed on her bare chest; and by the end, she’d done so wrong that when Sheldon found out that she’d lied that she needed to be spanked. The young lady gets exactly what she wants by a young man who’s doing it for different reasons. It’s really brilliant.”

MAYIM BIALIK (Amy)

“The spanking episode. That was fun largely because it was supposed to be off-camera, and at the last minute, Chuck Lorre decided to film it. That was really fun and awkward, right in front of the audience letting it come alive.”

JOHNNY GALECKI (Leonard)

“Penny telling Leonard she loves him is pretty big. We didn’t play it as a watershed moment. It was played as if she’s always known this. It was touching. I also love the moment when Leonard says, ‘I know I propose a lot,’ and then promises that he won’t. It’s one of my favorite Leonard lines to say. To put his own desire aside and say, ‘You tell me when you’re ready, despite what I want in my life right now and with you right now.’ That’s unconditional, selfless love.”

KALEY CUOCO(Penny)

“When Penny said, ‘I love you’ to Leonard. It took her more than five years to say it. That’s why now you know with Penny that whatever she does is real. You know when she said it she truly meant it. That’s why now Leonard is OK with going away and knowing that they’re going to be OK. We did that in one take. Steve came out and said, ‘We’re really happy with that. Do you want to do it again?’ We didn’t want to; it felt perfectly right. I told Johnny: ‘It was so weird — I became Penny in that moment.’ There was no audience, just Leonard and Penny. It was a moment I’ll definitely never forget.”

KUNAL NAYYAR (Raj)

“I’ll always remember this season. This is the season where these guys are getting to the point in their lives now where their priorities are not, ‘Let’s have video game night.’ It’s, ‘I want love. I want a family. I want a relationship. I need a partner in my life.’ That is the season for me; watching them shift from, ‘Let’s buy a time machine,’ to, ‘Am I going to get married to this girl? Am I going to ever find love? Am I ever going to find a partner?'”

SIMON HELBERG (Howard)

“Sheldon and Amy deciding to get physical — but in the context of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a really brilliantly constructed scene where they’re rolling the dice to figure out which article of armor, or clothing, comes off. It’s really an amazing moment and a microcosm of the show. It is the reality of these characters, yet it’s very universal. It’s real to them and what maybe is a small step to other people, is as big of a step to these characters as you can find.”

MELISSA RAUCH (Bernadette)

“The letter episode was so special. I really loved how they showed that aspect of Howard and Bernadette’s marriage. It showed the emotional component of marriage and how Howard was going through this really traumatic event, and they did it together. They’ve always done a good job of showing the love between Howard and Bernadette — even though they bicker and they don’t always see eye to eye at exactly the same time. I just loved how that was a dual effort of helping them come to Howard’s resolution and him talking it out with her.”

STEVE MOLARO“I can’t pick one.

Leonard and Penny saying, ‘I love you’

Raj’s speech in the comic book store about how they’re all a community, if they have each other

Sheldon making Amy his emergency contact

Howard coming back from space. Every character has had these incredible moments this season.

Raj standing in the hall convincing Lucy to go out with him because he swears he’s messed up in the head.

The end of the closet episode when they all tell Howard what might be in the letter and one of them is true.”

The CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory” has been on the air for six seasons, enough time for the cast to develop an easy rapport that includes endless teasing. Currently, the seven main cast members are discussing how they got their SAG cards, with two-time Emmy winner Jim Parsons, who plays the brilliant but socially inept Sheldon, noting he got his for a commercial. “Was it the one where you became a wolf?” asks Johnny Galecki, who portrays Sheldon’s roommate and co-worker, Leonard. Parsons then has to explain, in his trademark deadpan, “It was for Quiznos. I didn’t want Quiznos, and someone asked if I was raised by wolves, and you learned I was.”

Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, is being teased by Kunal Nayyar, who plays Raj, that “she was handed her card when she came out of the womb.” Nayyar adds, “I got mine from playing a terrorist on ‘NCIS.’ I had a fake mustache. Mark Harmon punched me in the face.” Galecki can’t resist asking, “What was your mode of terror? Besides the mustache?” Galecki believes he received his card working on the film “A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.” He says, “Though, considering my memory of the craft services table, I doubt that was really union.”

Mayim Bialik, who first appeared at the end of Season 3 as Amy, got hers playing an urchin on the TV show “Beauty and the Beast.” Simon Helberg, who stars as Howard, got his on “Undeclared.” He says, “I remember I couldn’t afford to pay the SAG dues because I made less on the show than the dues required.” And Melissa Rauch, who joined the show in 2009 as Bernadette, thought she hit it big when she got hers from a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial. “I thought I was going to be like the Dell Guy,” she says. “I was like, ‘How am I going to handle this?’ Then it only ended up airing regionally. I had mansions picked out.”

On the secret to building a great ensemble:

Johnny Galecki: I really don’t know. If there were ingredients for it, every cast would have it. I do remember from the first table reading I felt it, I felt how everyone’s choices served everyone else’s.

Jim Parsons: Even being part of it, you don’t feel you can identify it. Everybody does their job well, and that’s the way it’s always been.

Galecki: We’ve all seen great actors and actresses who are missing a certain chemistry. And it’s not about getting along or not getting along—

Kaley Cuoco: Or being good actors.

Galecki: I don’t think it’s necessary that we all get along; it just happened.

Simon Helberg: I think it’s also about just listening to each other—

Galecki: What?

Helberg: Never mind, I zoned out. But there is an understanding of the rhythm and the song we’re all singing.

Cuoco: Especially with this show, there is quite a rhythm. We just know how to work with each other. You kind of have to dive in.

Kunal Nayyar: We definitely got more comfortable with each other, but we knew something was special in the pilot.

Melissa Rauch: I was a fan of the show before I joined the cast, and when I came for my first episode, I remember being blown away by how everyone nailed every single word that came out of their mouth at the table read. I had never really experienced anything like that.

Galecki: Who was nicest to you?

Rauch: You all were jerks, pretty much.

Mayim Bialik: I felt the same [at my first table read], and I think I attributed it to “Oh, they’ve been doing this so long.” But now that I see more of the individual talent and professional camaraderie, I think it probably was like that from the get-go, and Melissa and I get to reap the benefits of getting to be added to such an amazing ensemble.

Helberg: But it’s a testament to you guys because you didn’t just pick up on our genius, so to speak. You were able to seamlessly enter into this while also adding a wonderful dimension to it.

On watching the show grow over six seasons:Helberg: It’s been fun watching the growth of the characters. People were hard on us when we first premiered, sort of like, “It’s just nerds and some ditzy blonde!” I feel that’s changed.

Cuoco: It’s hard to tell what an entire series is going to be based on the first few episodes, or even on the first season. And it’s sad because you see great casts and good ideas that don’t get that opportunity to grow and show what it could turn into. We were lucky they stuck by us.

Parsons: I think the best thing that ever happened to us was not being some sort of megahit right out of the gate.

Helberg: And the [2007–2008] writers’ strike. They showed our episodes over and over during the strike.

Cuoco: I also think forcing people to watch them on planes was great. You either had to watch or jump off.

Helberg: Strikes and captive audiences were good to us.

Parsons: Our ratings weren’t remarkable at first, but we had two or three seasons under our belts, and we weren’t showing up here thrown off our mark by some sort of sudden success. We just did what we had always done, as did the writers. It was very healthy.

Galecki: There wasn’t a lot of attention paid to multicamera shows at the time.

Parsons: Other than claiming they were dead.

On what they remember most about landing their roles:

Galecki: I remember Jim and I did a chemistry read together.

Cuoco: Was there ever an option of you playing different roles?

Galecki: When [series creator] Chuck Lorre first called me they didn’t even have anything written yet, and he initially mentioned Sheldon. But two weeks later, he faxed me some pages, and I really liked the idea of the love story with Leonard and Penny. I hadn’t had the chance to play that as an actor.

Cuoco: I auditioned three times and got turned down three times. I’ve known Chuck for years, and initially he said, “We’ll work together eventually; I just don’t think it’s going to be this.” But a year went by, and the character changed a lot.

Nayyar: I had just moved to L.A. from England and was about to sign with an agency. As I signed the papers they said they had an audition on Monday for “The Big Bang Theory.” I joked, “I’m going to go and book that!”

Cuoco: You know, that doesn’t happen.

Rauch: Were there a bunch of guys who looked like you?

Nayyar: There were some Indians, but there were also Koreans and Asians. The guy was called Dave at the time.

Helberg: I remember going in, and I met Kaley; the next day I read that you got the part. But I hadn’t been called yet. A whole week went by where I didn’t hear anything. And I thought they clearly were scouring the country for any other option but me. In fact, the deadline passed, and it was the next morning I got the call. They said, “I know it’s past the deadline, but we want to offer Simon the part.” It was clearly an easy decision.

Cuoco: I thought for sure I didn’t have the part too. I’ve learned after so many years in this business that nothing is set in stone until you’re on set. I’ve been told I was the choice for years and never got hired. So I never go there in my mind.

Rauch: I just remember for some reason I became Canadian in the audition—I kept saying, “Aboot.” When I was done Chuck said, “Are you Canadian?” I don’t know what happened. I was sure I didn’t get it.

Bialik: I remember it came down to two of us, and the other girl was a totally different type. She was actually going back to grad school, and it was the last audition she went on, and she told me she was kind of hoping she didn’t get it—she had a whole new life planned. I was just told to mimic Jim Parsons. I said, “Who’s Jim Parsons?” So I Googled you.

Parsons: That’s fair.

Bialik: I also remember, the week they offered me a contract, I thought it was my last episode. I just thought it had come to an end, the character was done. It was Shabbat, and I was about to shut off my phone, and my manager called and said, “Here’s the best Shabbat present you ever got: They’re offering you a contract.”

The whole cast will be there, but Jim Parsons will appear via satellite.

Comic-Con is a week away and the biggest comedy on TV is ready to take the biggest stage at the annual pop culture fiesta. The cast and producers of The Big Bang Theory are making their annual trek to the San Diego Convention Center on Friday, July 13, holding court in the iconic 6,500-seat Hall H. Adam Savage, co-host of Discovery’s Mythbusters, will moderate the panel, from 12:05pm to 1:05pm.

The Q&A session will feature cast members Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg,Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, and executive producers Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and Steven Molaro. Jim Parsons, currently starring on Broadway in the revival of Harvey, will appear via satellite. The Big Bang panel always provides some of the top highlights of the Con, including a sing-along of the show’s theme song led by the Barenaked Ladies in 2010, and Rauch’s hilarious impersonation of Mrs. Wolowitz last year.

The cast will also have an autograph-signing session (details here) and TV Guide Magazine‘s Rob Moynihan will host a Q&A with Prady and Molaro on Warner Bros.’ Extra stage (adjacent to the convention center) on Friday at 3pm.